Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) is poking fun at a series of reports claiming prominent Republicans have held nearly 20-minute phone conversations with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) during the senator’s hospitalization, joking that those discussions should be made public.
McConnell, 84, was reportedly taken to the hospital by ambulance on June 14 after paramedics responded to his home to assist someone who was unconscious following cardiac arrest.
On Sunday, McConnell issued his first public update on his condition since his hospitalization. In a statement, the retiring Kentucky senator said he was admitted to the hospital after suffering a fall that left him “briefly unconscious.”
McConnell said doctors determined that he had not suffered broken bones, a concussion, tumors, hemorrhages, a heart attack, or a stroke. He also revealed that he had been treated for a mild case of pneumonia while receiving care.
Along with the statement, McConnell released a photograph showing himself in a hospital bed with his wife, former Labor and Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, seated beside him. The image has drawn questions from some members of the press and users on social media, who have questioned its authenticity.
In the weeks following McConnell’s hospitalization, several prominent Republicans and conservative commentators publicly stated they had spoken with the senator by telephone, with many describing conversations lasting nearly 20 minutes.
Among them was CNN commentator and former McConnell adviser Scott Jennings, who wrote on X that he had spoken with the Kentucky senator while he continued recovering in the hospital.
“I spoke to my old friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky,” Jennings wrote. “He’s still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 20 minutes … about IRAN, UKRAINE, the unfolding situation in MAINE, my visit to the TR Presidential Library, and even a little bit of Senate history. I told him we want to see him back at work as soon as possible.”
Politico also reported that Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso each spoke with McConnell for a similar period of nearly 20 minutes.
As those reports circulated, Massie responded with a satirical post on X that mocked the repeated references to the length of the conversations.
“I spoke to McConnell for about 20 minutes this morning,” Massie joked. “He said we should end the war with Iran, quit giving aid to Israel, stop spying on Americans without a warrant, and he’s really sorry about how my primary turned out.”
Massie continued the joke on Monday during a conversation with congressional reporter Pablo Manríquez, who asked whether he believed the hospital photo McConnell released.
Rather than answer directly, Massie repeated the humorous premise.
“Well, you know I had a 20-minute conversation, nearly 20 minutes, with Senator McConnell,” Massie said. “And he said we should stop spying on Americans, quit bankrupting the country, and stop starting these new wars. And he expressed his sadness that I lost my primary.”
Massie then pointed to what he described as the unusual coincidence that multiple people had publicly described conversations with McConnell lasting roughly the same amount of time.
“But it appears that a lot of people had those 20-minute conversations,” Massie said.
The Kentucky congressman closed with another tongue-in-cheek remark, suggesting that if so many similar conversations are taking place, they ought to happen in public.
“We just need to start having them publicly.”
[READ MORE: Federal Government Starts Giving Out Tariff Refunds]
